The pair met each other at the United States Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was broadcast via Facebook Live. The 19-minute video showed the duo discussing such issues as meditation, mental health and how to detoxify humanity.

According to the Apple Daily, websites in China have been ordered to stop uploading or distributing her songs. Meanwhile, government-run news outlets such as CCTV, the People’s Daily and the Global Times were ordered to criticize the meeting.

China has previously reacted harshly to international artists seen associating with the Dalai Lama.

Last July, Shanghai cancelled a Maroon 5 concert after it was revealed a band member had sent out a tweet regarding the Dalai Lama. Bon Jovi concerts scheduled for Shanghai and Beijing last September were also cancelled due to objections from the Ministry of Culture over Tibet imagery used as part of the band’s performance.

This past April, pop singer Selena Gomez cancelled upcoming concerts in Guangzhou and Shanghai over rumors she had circulated content on her Twitter account regarding the Dalai Lama.

The post Lady Gaga Meets Dalai Lama, Now Predictably Banned in China appeared first on The Nanfang.

According to insiders, China’s ministry of culture cancelled shows scheduled for September 14 and 17 because they had discovered images of the exiled Tibetan spirtual leader hidden in the backdrop of a video used during a Bon Jovi Taiwan concert in 2010. And similar to the situation behind the recent cancellation of a Shanghai performance by Maroon 5, a member of Bon Jovi was discovered to have made a supportive tweet about the Dalai Lama.

The Dalai Lama is a vilified figure in China accused of advocating for Tibet separatism and extremist actions. This upcoming fall marks a politically sensitive time as China celebrates the 50th anniversary of the Tibet Autonomous Region.

We all suspected he was going down in blaze of glory, but it appeared frontman Jon Bon Jovi was first going to woo China on a bed of roses. Bon Jovi had been promoting the concerts in an online video featuring him singing the Chinese love ballad The Moon Represents My Heart, as made famous by Taiwanese crooner Teresa Teng.

The band also has two upcoming performances in Macao scheduled for September 25 and 26. We’re not sure of the fate of these two shows, but seeing as it’s my life and knowing that we weren’t born to follow, hopefully the personal freedom of seeing a rock show will still carry through in these cases. But if the worst comes to pass and the likes of Bon Jovi aren’t wanted in China – either dead or alive – well then, who says you can’t go home?

And if you’re tired of the Bon Jovi puns, you’ll want to skip all these comments from Twitter today:

The post Bon Jovi China Concerts Shot Through The Heart Because of a Bad Name appeared first on The Nanfang.

Some say it began when Prime Minister David Cameron met with the Dalai Lama in 2012, which naturally outraged officials in Beijing because the spiritual leader is a “splittest” “politician” intent on oppressing Tibetans by returning them to feudalism, thus bringing tremendous harm to the Motherland. (It also “hurt the feelings of the Chinese people”, although with that phrase dropped of late perhaps the Chinese people are developing thicker skin?)

China gave Cameron the silent treatment for a year afterwards, cancelling a high level visit to London and refusing to make senior officials available for Cameron’s visit to Beijing in early 2013, which was ultimately cancelled as a result. A detente was finally reached after the UK came grovelling back, begging for forgiveness, and willing to do whatever it took to get back in Xi Jinping’s good graces. So in the last two years or so, the UK has shown it’s learned its lesson by:

• No more meetings with the Dalai Lama. The UK leadership have distanced themselves from the spiritual leader of Tibet, saying they have “turned the page”;
• Silence during Hong Kong’s Occupy movement. Despite being a party to the Sino-British joint declaration and having administered Hong Kong for 150 years, the government was silent on Hong Kong people’s forceful push for greater political freedoms even though it’s these same rights the UK supposedly supports as “universal values”; and
• Silence after UK MPs were denied access to Hong Kong during Occupy. The Hong Kong SAR government said it would not admit sitting MPs to visit Hong Kong in an unprecedented case that drew little more than a shrug from the UK’s Foreign Office. The most it could muster is China’s decision was “regrettable”.

China, like a teacher that recognizes its student has given up drugs and is studying harder, has given the UK its reward: it has agreed to invest in British power plants and even signed a landmark pig semen deal. (No joke.)

But the UK isn’t finished proving itself yet: Ai Weiwei, an artist-slash-political-dissident-slash-rabble-rouser that China has held under house arrest has been refused a six-month visa to the UK. Officially, it’s because UK immigration said Ai lied on his visa application form when he declared he never had a criminal conviction. He was, however, jailed in China for many months, but was never charged with a crime. Ai says he’s spoken with UK officials but they insist their sources are accurate. Instead of six months, he’s been given 20 days to attend the opening of his latest art installation.

Whatever your views on the Ai Weiwei case — and the details do appear somewhat murky — there is mounting evidence that the UK is losing its moral leadership. I have long argued that the UK, since the sun officially set on its empire, has been punching well above its global weight. The UK makes up a relatively small collection of islands with a population of a mere 63 million, putting it on par with Thailand and Italy, which have much smaller voices in global affairs. Its GDP based on purchasing power parity is 9th globally, behind Indonesia, Brazil, Russia, and India, also states with much less global clout than the UK.

With its relatively small population and economies in Asia booming, the UK will only fall further down the list over time. So then the question becomes: what can the UK offer the world as a smaller, marginal player? One would hope it could offer values, like free speech, liberty, democracy, and social justice. But it appears the UK is happy to sacrifice those in return for access to China, making the UK no different than any other marginal state that develops domestic and foreign policy with Beijing looking over its shoulder.

It’s been a long fall from the top for the United Kingdom. As someone with ancestors from the UK, I take no joy in the country’s marginalization. But if it continues to allow authoritarian regimes to influence policy to this degree, then the UK deserves its diminished position in global affairs.

The post What do the UK and Cambodia Have in Common? Both are Chinese Vassal States appeared first on The Nanfang.

Maroon 5 recently mysteriously dropped the September 12th date from the band’s tour schedule, but they are keeping their other shows in Asia, including Hong Kong. Chinese fans became suspicious that Maroon 5 may have gotten themselves banned in China when news came that band member Jesse Carmichael tweeted a birthday congratulations to the Dalai Lama after reportedly attending celebrations with him on July 4.

Shanghaiist translates some reaction from the Chinese Internet:

“When it comes to matters of a country’s dignity and territorial claims, there can be no compromise. Musicians should stick to music and do their thing. Why bother with politics?”

“It’s okay to have political opinions, but it’s not okay to be illogical. Does he (Jesse Carmichael) have any idea what Dalai Lama has done in Tibet?”

“Country before idol.”

“Such a shame. I really liked their song ‘Sugar’.”

“I believe Jesse (Carmichael) did not mean any malice. I also understand the government’s attitude. The fans are the ones who suffer.”

“Does attending a friend’s birthday party equal agreeing with his political views?”

Maroon 5 joins a long line up of Western performers that have run afoul of Chinese authorities.

During the Occupy Central protests last year, smooth jazz musician Kenny G infuriated China’s foreign ministry when he tweeted a picture in which he appeared in front of a protest sign. In 2009, Oasis was banned from performing in Shanghai and Beijing when the Ministry of Culture discovered the band had performed for a Free Tibet concert a decade prior. The most incendiary incident was in 2008, when Icelandic singer said the words “Tibet! Tibet!” during the closing number Declare Independence at a Shanghai concert right before the lyrics “raise your flag”.

But Western performers that earn approval to perform in China still have to conform to the wishes of Chinese authorities.

After being denied permission to play in Beijing and Shanghai in 2010, Bob Dylan was able to perform in Beijing using a list of songs that had been approved by Chinese authorities. In 2008, Harry Connick Jr. performed a show in Shanghai that mainly consisted of him playing solo piano despite bringing a big band with him. Reports say he was forced to abandon his current show when his playlist of songs was rejected.

In 2006 after downplaying the banning of such songs as Let’s Spend the Night Together as “no big deal”, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones countered the criticism with, “I’m pleased that the Ministry of Culture is protecting the morals of the expat bankers and their girlfriends.”

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